The original 250,000-strong March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963, is most famous for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, as well as for raising national awareness about civil rights. There were more members of the press attending the march than at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration two years earlier, and the demonstration continues to resonate in people’s minds and hearts a half-century later.

Women played a large role in putting together the 1963 march. Among others, actor/singer Lena Horne brought key media attention to the event, while Dorothy Height was a major organizer. Countless women volunteers helped coordinate food and hotel accommodations for the marchers.

As soon as I said ‘hello’ the marshall took the mic away. I thought it was such a great occasion that all of those people from all over the country had gotten there, that I didn’t raise hell, I just went on about my business.

Richardson also said that women speakers were forced to wait in a separate tent, causing her to almost miss her opportunity to speak. And the women who spoke were not allowed to go on at length: Daisy Bates just briefly thanked female volunteers. Only Josephine Baker, the famous entertainer, gave a full speech.

Women also did not participate in the main march down Pennsylvania Avenue, instead having to walk down Independence Avenue where there was no press presence. Other women who played key roles in the civil rights movement, such as Ella Baker who founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Fannie Lou Hamer, a voting rights activist who would organize Freedom Summer the following year, were not allowed to speak.

Fast forward 50 years and, thankfully, the situation has changed. This past Saturday, a commemorative March on Washington (down Independence Avenue) featured many well-known women on the dais, including Martin Luther King’s daughter, Bernice King; activist Myrlie Evers-Williams, wife of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers (she was on the list to speak in 1963 but didn’t make it); Sybrina Fulton, the mother of murdered teenager Trayvon Martin; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and NOW president Terry O’Neill. The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Black Women’s Roundtable also sponsored a forum last week on “Women Leaders of The Movement: Past, Present and Future,” focusing on the role women have played and continue to play in the civil rights movement. The National Museum of Women in the Arts held a special exhibit of feminist artist Faith Ringgold’s work.

As the recently trending hashtag #BlackPowerIsForBlackMen suggests, sexism still rears its head in social justice activism. But a new generation of activists is less likely to stand by quietly, especially as racism and sexism are part of a larger intersectional analysis of discrimination.

As we move forward we won’t forget the past. As Evers-Williams put it in her speech,

I stand here today and I ask the question, ‘Ain’t I a woman?‘ Where are the women who need to be acknowledged in this movement for freedom and justice? We must not forget Coretta Scott King. We must not forget Betty Shabazz. We must not forget all of the other women who poured in the sweat and the tears to move us further.

Comments

Despite the fact that women were on the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement, the media continued to portray women as vapid housewives preoccupied with chasing dirt and debating the well worn topic of “ring around the collar”. For an illustrated look at this, visit http://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2013/08/28/white-wash/

There’s sadly not as much progress in 50 years as one might hope. Most of today’s female speakers are there because they are a relative of one of the men from the original march. Ugh. Until most women are there in their own right, and hey, maybe even a few men there as “husband of…” some amazing woman, there’s still a long way to go.

Sorry, but I do not think this March is that much more feminist. Most of the women speakers are relatives of the men from the original March. Also, feminists like bell hooks and Kimberle Crenshaw didn’t speak at the march. The March is still a male-dominated event that puts racism above sexism, classism and homophobic. The March is not intersectional at all.

Its worth recalling, that women who gave birth and raised the ENTIRE USA population had to wait 5o more years for our right to VOTE. yes thats right. Both black white women were treated as a same caste, delaying our suffrage a half a century. !!!
So when the black males organized the march, the women had hopes that they too gained a voice. NOpe. They were hushed up, just like the with Vote ,and this year we LOST our Rights to our OWN body!
Color trumped gender. I think this is counter revolutionery. Women of all colors, demand that you are recognized! What are we??? Bovine?

i don’t expect MLK to be perfect, but reports are that he used to beat up prostitutes.. it’s not the adultery, it’s the issue of the buying and selling of women. it also is interesting that the kennedy administration was more advanced that MLK in terms of including women in civil rights legislation. MLK just stole all the methods from the suffragettes and never credited them.